U.S. Decision Square Plans For Travel Inside Russia

Last week's lifting of passport restrictions to Iron Curtain countries by the State Department has prompted several travel bureaus to arrange tours to the Soviet Union for the first time this summer, a check of various agencies revealed yesterday.

At the same time, however, a member of the Russian Research Center here cautioned students against "packing their bags too soon" The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said the decision to give American citizens unrestricted passports was not significant in itself. "We should wait to see whether the Soviet Union makes it easier to get visas before planning for far-off trips," he said.

Up to now, all Americans who could get visas were usually granted passports after proving that the Russians had granted them permission to enter their country. What the American statement does, the source said, is in effect to put the responsibility entirely on the Russians.

Two Weeks In Russia

The University Travel Company in Cambridge said that it had made contacts with Intourist, the official Russian travel service, and expects to make a public announcement within two weeks.

"We are hoping to have a two-week visit to some parts of Russia," William M. Anderson, a spokesman for University Travel, said yesterday. He estimated that the Russian part of the tour would cost about $40 a day and that there would be room for about 20 Harvard men.

A local concern in Boston named the Jiminy Cricket Travel Agency, said yesterday that it had received permission from the Soviet Union to sponsor a tour in June or July for up to 100 people. It claimed to be the only travel agency in the country to have such a service.

The costs for the tour would be very high, a representative indicated, coming to about $100 for two weeks. He said that the agency had already received deposits from 15 people and inquiries from hundreds more. The two weeks in Russia would be part of 52-day visit to Europe, the total cost of which would be $2995 per person.

A travel agency in New York, however, the Union Tours Inc., also said that it had arranged tours to Russia, and that its first one was leaving Dec. 19, with successive ones departing the third Monday in every month. The tours will be almost entirely spent in Russia, with a brief stop in Scandinavia. In all, the groups will be in Leningrad and Moscow for 12 days.